energy
Netzagentur: Approval of Nord Stream 2 probably not until June
View of the pipe systems and shut-off devices in the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. The pipeline for natural gas from Russia was originally scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2019. Photo: Stefan Sauer/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Gas from Russia should actually be flowing through the Ostee pipeline by the end of 2019. But tests are still pending.
Rapid approval for the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline is not to be expected, despite the establishment of a German subsidiary.
The President of the Federal Network Agency, Jochen Homann, told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Monday) that the entry in the commercial register had taken place, “but there are no further steps”. If you look at the exams that are still outstanding, “you quickly come to the conclusion that it will hardly be possible to complete them in the first half of the year”.
With the founding of a German subsidiary, Nord Stream 2 AG complied with a requirement of the Federal Network Agency in the certification process. The new gas transport company Gas for Europe GmbH, based in Schwerin, will submit the necessary documents to continue the certification process “as soon as possible”, a spokesman announced on Wednesday.
The background to the procedure is the EU Gas Directive, which prescribes a separation between the operation of the pipeline and the sale of the gas. Formally, the sole shareholder of Nord Stream 2 AG is the Russian gas company Gazprom. Nord Stream 2 AG, based in Zug, Switzerland, had applied to the Federal Network Agency for certification as an independent operator. However, the authority stopped the procedure for the time being in November and pointed out that the transport network operator had to be a company under German law.